David Carr: 1956-2015

A little earlier this evening, The New York Times reported that its most excellent media columnist David Carr had collapsed while at work in the paper’s newsroom and was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

He was fifty-eight years old.

This is absolutely terrible news, and our deepest sympathies are with David’s family and his colleagues at The New York Times, as well as his greater circle of friends. We were readers of David’s columns and regarded him as one of the newspaper’s finest writers. We are grieved by his sudden death, but we are and always will be appreciative of his contributions to journalism.

Only a few hours ago, Carr moderated a TimesTalks discussion with Glenn Greenwald, Edward Snowden, and Laura Poitras at The New School’s John Tishman Auditorium. That discussion is available for viewing on Livestream:

Also worth watching is this Bloomberg discussion, where Carr talks about the future of journalism. Whenever he wrote or spoke, he always had important things to say. His 2008 memoir The Night of the Gun frankly explored his struggles with addiction, garnering widespread praise and acclaim.

Mother Jones has a collection of tributes to David.

It’s tough to believe he’s gone… and in the same week as CBS’ legendary Bob Simon. This truly has been an awful week for journalism.

Rest in peace, David. We’ll miss you.